On May 16, the ASU athletic department closed its eyes, took a deep breath and made a wish. When it opened its eyes almost six months later, the candle was still lit.
The NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee upheld penalties Friday imposed by the NCAA Infractions Committee last year on the ASU baseball team.
The most noteworthy punishments include a one year postseason ban and three years probation. The infractions stemmed from a period of “lack of institutional control” under former coach Pat Murphy and the athletic department.
One major violation was reduced to secondary in the ruling.
“Obviously, we are very disappointed,” ASU Vice President for Athletics Lisa Love said in a statement. “While we appreciate the committee’s decision to reduce the third violation to secondary status, we are concerned about its decision to uphold the other two. We believe that others who review the case will share our concerns about this outcome.”
The two major violations that were upheld involved minimally overpaying student-athletes for work in a outreach program for underprivileged children and allowing student managers to perform certain tasks like throwing batting practice.
“The student employment and student manager violations that were appealed in this case were inadvertent and did not provide significant recruiting advantage, which is the definition that the NCAA uses for a secondary violation,” Love said.
2012 will be the first season the Sun Devils don’t participate in the NCAA playoffs since 1999. The program has five national titles to its name along with 22 College World Series appearances.
“Obviously we are disappointed that we will not be able to participate in the postseason in 2012," ASU coach Tim Esmay said in a statement. “The goals for this program will not and have not changed. We will take the same approach towards every practice and every game, non-conference and Pac-12, that we have always taken. Our goal to be the best team in the Pac-12 remains our focus.
“Sun Devil Baseball is and will remain one of the premier collegiate baseball programs in the nation and we will continue to provide an elite student-athlete experience at Arizona State University." he said. “I am glad that this program can finally put an end to this chapter. This has been a five-year process and now we can move forward and put this behind us. Arizona State has a rich and wonderful baseball tradition that I am proud to have been a part of both as a student-athlete and a coach. This coaching staff and the 2012 team will do everything that we can to help continue the legacy of Sun Devil Baseball."
The Sun Devils begin their season Feb. 17 at Packard Stadium against Western Michigan.
